A people and culture team "singularly failed" to meet with an employee in a timely manner to discuss his redeployment opportunities, meaning his redundancy wasn't genuine, the Fair Work Commission has ruled.
Employers are now firmly on notice that when they're considering a major workplace change, they need to assess the risk of psychosocial hazards potentially arising from it, a lawyer says.
The Federal Court has rejected both the "bland explanation" an employee received for his dismissal and his employer's later argument that he was underperforming, finding instead that he was sacked for exercising a workplace right.
A chief people officer irritated by a manager's redeployment negotiations made a "snap decision" to make his role redundant, in breach of his general protections, the Federal Court has found.
Despite accepting that a supervisor's suitability for redeployment was "unlikely", the Fair Work Commission has found an HR practitioner should have discussed available jobs before dismissing her on the basis of redundancy.
In a general protections case that identified 188 workplace complaints or enquiries, an employee failed to specify which "particular" prohibited reasons led to his termination, the Federal Circuit Court has found.
Blaming a general manager for stalling a redundancy consultation process, when the purpose of any further discussion remained "opaque", was "self-serving and disingenuous", the Fair Work Commission has ruled.
Advertising for new roles didn't undermine an employer's genuine redundancy defence to a people and culture officer's unfair dismissal claim, the Fair Work Commission has found, in rejecting that any of those positions were suitable for her redeployment.
Engaging an external contractor didn't undermine an employer's genuine redundancy defence to an unfair dismissal claim, the Fair Work Commission has found, rejecting there were any signs of a "sham".
General protections claims are the fastest-growing category of applications in the Fair Work Commission, with reforms now underway to stem the tide. This webinar will discuss important developments in both procedural issues and case law.
